Put My Headphones On
by BeatsNRhymes
Summary: Neku runs to the highest building of Shibuya to jump off and put an end to his life, but instead of doing that, he saves a girl's life who was about to jump off as well. What will happen to Neku when he finds out his best friend was dead?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this story, well, maybe some, but all of them belong to SquareEnix.**

**Attention: While you're reading you may find some mistakes thanks to my rubbish computer -.-' so don't judge, we all make mistakes. Try the sentence to make sense and have fun! :)**

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Everything became black; I didn't know what happened then. I woke up in a white room feeling somewhat dizzy. I looked around and, I was laying on a bed and realized I was in a hospital. Dammit, I failed. My left wrist was covered with gauze and I had a needle in my right wrist injecting some kind of red liquid to my arm… blood I guess? Yeah. I stood silent looking at the walls, trying to find a clock and when I finally found it, it was apparently 4:00 pm in the afternoon. I felt the door getting opened and I glanced at it, someone came in, it was Rhyme.

Rhyme was like, the only person I cared for, besides me. She was my only… friend and the only one who will talk to me, or, at least, the only one I let "in" my world. She would smile at me to cheer me up and make my life less miserable, I couldn't say the same about her brother, Beat, he didn't like me so much, but oh well.

"Neku! You're awake!" she smiled.

"Sort of" I said, I found out I was a little weak and couldn't talk properly.

"Shh…" she said. "Don't talk… man you scared the hell out of me! You've been passed out since last night!" she said, this time concerned.

"I-"

"Umm… never mind, you're okay and that's all that matters" she smiled once again.

I felt kind of guilty, she got worried, I thought no one would. What am I doing here? Well, I tried to kill myself, but obviously, couldn't.

"Neku…" she put a hand over my forehead. "Why did you do that?"

I just sighed and rolled my eyes. This wasn't the first time I tried, it was the third actually, and I already explained her everything and I didn't feel like talking about that, but in fact, I hated my life. I hated people, no one treated me well 'sides mom and Rhyme. My dad hated me and my mom, he would even hurt her verbally and even physically, and same with me, and my mom was kind of scared to defend herself so every time I tried to be by my mother's side, he would do whatever he could to bring me down, calling me things like "bastard" "useless kid" "idiot" "attempt of human" and the one which hit me the hardest… "You're the worst mistake I could've ever made". So, my dad, kids of school, and everyone else in general, were the one to blame for making my life so… I think miserable is the right word. So I decided to become this anti-social somewhat emo kid who hates people, and every time I felt like I've gotten enough, I tried to put an end to my life, but my mom always finds me.

"Alright Neku, go on, ignore my question" Rhyme sighed and sat on a black couch that was in the room when my mom came in.

***** 3 weeks later *****

This was the last time I was going to stand my father; he has gotten me completely sick already. The last thing I did when I was in front of my mother to prevent him from hitting her when he punched my face, was running off the house, he shouted to me asking me to "come back and man up" but obviously I wasn't going to obey such orders. This time I was going to make sure that no one would be there to save my life, I didn't want it to be saved. "Screw everything, I'm out." Was all I thought, I did not realize how selfish I was being. All I knew is that I was running to the highest building of the city, running upstairs to the very last floor and jumping off to end with this fucking life. But then, once I was up there, I saw this girl standing on the edge. She was wrapping a stuffed black cat with her arms and was about to open her arms and let herself fall when lots of questions filled my head, and before I could even notice, I had already ran up to her and pulled her back. We both fell on the floor, she ended up over me, my head hurt cause I hit the floor hard. I lifted my head to meet this girl's eyes, they were brown, and she wasn't that good looking, but I still had questions in my head, "What was she doing there?" "Why she wanted to jump off the building?" and the most important one "why did I save her when I didn't want to be saved myself?"

She quickly sat up, I could tell she was crying before coming here. I sat up as well rubbing my head. I turned to the left while fixing my headphones and wow; you could see the whole Shibuya from up there. The mysterious girl ran off and let her stuffed cat she was holding before.

"H-Hey! Wait up!" I shouted, grabbing the cat and standing up to follow her.

I ran downstairs as fast as I could to reach her and give her the kitten back, but once I was down there, didn't focus my attention on finding her. A crowd was surrounding something, there was an ambulance and a car that looked like it smashed something. I turned my head to the left and saw Beat running over.

"Move ya' asses now! That my little sister there yo!"

"Did he say sister?" I thought. "Rhyme!" this time I shouted. I ran between the crowd to find my only friend in the world laying dead on the floor. I busted into tears instantly, it wasn't her the one supposed to die that day, it was… me… I started questioning myself things like "why didn't I jump with the girl instead of saving her?" but after seeing Rhyme like that, for the first time in my life, I got scared… I got scared, I didn't want to die now. I was paralyzed, crying, standing little bit more than a meter away from her. Then Beat raised his head and pointed at me.

"It was all your fault, Phones! You little asshole!" he said crying.

"What…?" I asked. Why would he blame me?

"She saw you running off ya' house and followed ya, then… THIS. HAPPENED!" he shouted the last part.

Was he serious? Was this really all my fault? Everyone started at me, I didn't know what to do, didn't know where to go. My dad would probably still be home and now I was too chickened to jump off that building, but I had to go somewhere, so I ran off to my house, once there, opened and slammed the front door, ran to my room, threw the stuffed cat somewhere in the floor, jumped over my bed and started crying my heart out. I looked like a freak, kicking my own bed while I hid my face on the pillows, but regardless that I was hiding my face, I was still shouting, well, screaming too loud, so my mom heard me.

"N-Neku!" she came running. She didn't even ask what was going on, she just lifted me up and gave me a good, comforting, mom-style hug, but I kept crying as loud as I was.

"It was all my fault! Mom." I shouted.

"No Neku, calm down" She said softly.

"I can't!"

My dad walked and stood by the door.

"I was the one supposed to die today! Not her! And now Rhyme is dead and is all my fault!" I shouted once again. My mom's eyes widened. She didn't know what to say.

"Did you try to kill yourself once again?" she asked, about to start crying.

"Ye-heh-hes" I said crying and hiding my face on her stomach. I felt terrible.

Dad walked over and touched my shoulder and I glared at him.

"You get the fuck out of here! None of this would've had happened if you didn't punch me in the first place!"

"Neku! What are you saying?" Mom asked, freaked out.

"I ran off the house cause I wanted to jump off a building but I didn't! a girl was there and I ended up saving her, but she ran, and I followed cause she left something! And when I went downstairs I found out my only friend in the world dead and her brother told me it was all my fault cause she saw me running off the house! I feel like crap now and I don't need you pretending to care like an hypocritical asshole!" I wasn't sure if they understood me cause I was sobbing and said that really fast, but I didn't care and hid my face once again. I felt my mom's hand stroking my head.

I didn't notice when dad left. And after few hours of crying like if there was no tomorrow over my mom, I fell asleep. Mom put me softly on the bed and took off my headphones and shoes, kissed my cheek, turned off the light and closed the door.

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**This is my very first story in this web page and also my very first fic. I just hope you like it, yeah, I know, I made Neku such an emo kid... But what will happen with him now that he lost his only friend? Promise to upload another chapter soon!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The next morning I woke up with my eyes red and swollen. I walked to the bathroom and did all the crap you always do when you wake up. After that, I made my way to the kitchen, to drink some water. Mom saw me and gave me a hug but I broke it apart and kept walking. I didn't feel like hugging. I noticed that dad was still home and I didn't want to be there, so I walked back to my room.

I grabbed the stuffed cat and my headphones, put them on and walked out of the house, but, what was I going to do exactly? I didn't know. But I wanted to find something to keep my mind busy now that summer vacations were just beginning and Rhyme… wasn't here anymore. And I realized that giving the cat back would be a nice idea to keep my mind focused on something.

I walked and sat in front of the Hachiko Statue, people were starting at me thanks to the cat, but I didn't mind. I tried to find with my sight the girl who owned it, but she was not there. She could've been anywhere in the city, or dead, considering that I found her about to jump. After a few hours my butt hurt, so I stood up and walked away. I was starving cause I hadn't eaten anything that day and now that I was out I thought that eating ramen at Ramen Don was a pretty good idea… until I was there, and suddenly, I wasn't starving anymore.

I sat down in the same table Rhyme and I always used, I felt a little better, I put the cat over the table and hid my face resting my arms and head over it and stood like that for an hour. I felt someone sitting down in front of me, not that I gave it much importance.

"Can I take this seat" someone said.

"You already took it, didn't you?" I said without showing my face.

The guy laughed "I think that's a yes… what are you doing with this thing?"

I looked over my arms to find him holding the cat and smiling awkwardly at me.

"Why do you care?" I insisted.

"Because, my dear friend, I-"

"I'm not your friend" with that I hid my face once again.

"Fine, you aren't, anyway, back to my point, what is doing a boy like you with a stuffed animal like this?"

Good point he had…

Oh, I was about to jump off a building but instead I found a girl that was about to jump and I saved her, she ran off and she left it. "Not your business"

"Oh, but where are my manners?"

Great, this guy is an airheaded, perfect…

"My name's Yoshiya Kiryu, but you can call me Joshua… Who's the one I got the pleasure to meet?"

"Neku Sakuraba"

"Neku! What a charming name!"

"Hmph" I raised my head.

"Aren't you hungry? You've been here for an hour but you haven't ordered anything" he asked.

I did not answer.

"Well, be my guest and let me order for you" He offered.

I ignored what he said and grabbed the kitten.

"You know? You've got me curious, is that stuffed thing… Yours?" he asked.

Do I look like a-! "No, is not." That was offensive…

I heard a little bell sounding, it only sounds when a customer comes in, and for some reason I wanted to see who it was, and good thing I saw because it was my dad, he was talking to someone else so he didn't notice I was there.

"Joshua, do me a favor." I said.

"Um… what? But-"

"Listen, if you help me with this I promise I'll answer all of your questions, pleeeease?"

"Got… it? What do I ha-"

"Just don't move from this table and pretend I'm not here while I hide underneath, kay?" as soon as I said that I hid under the table wrapping my legs and praying to God that he didn't move.

Dad and the other person he was talking to walked in, ordered the food and left, meanwhile, a waiter asked Joshua if he wanted to order something and he asked for the food, his and mine, and when I got out of my hiding spot the food was already there.

"Okay, now, play your part" he said.

"Wha?"

"You said you'll answer my questions, so who was that and why did you hide?" he asked with a grin, ugh, why me? I got the feeling that he was going to be annoying.

"My dad… I didn't want him to know I was here"

"Alright? And who's this?" he grabbed the stuffed cat.

"Would you believe me if I say I have no idea…?"

"You- wait, you… What?"

"Yeah, I'm trying to find it's owner, I just know how the girl looks like" I explained.

"And why are you interested in returning it?"

I shrugged "I have nothing better to do"

"Don't you have any friends?"

I looked down at the bowl "I… was trying to avoid that question for good."

"Why?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"You promised to answer all of my questions, didn't you?"

I pushed the bowl of ramen away and hid my face once again. I didn't want to tell some stranger I was a suicidal emo kid and that I lost my friend.

"Okay kiddo, if you don't want to tell me, is fine by me" he said putting a hand over my head.

"I'm not "kiddo" and don't touch me"

"Don't be so mean, Neku, I ordered your food"

"I never said I was hungry"

"Then why did you come here in the first place?"

When he said that, all I was thinking about was "Rhyme". I won't deny it, some tears started running down my cheeks, I think he actually heard my sobs.

"Hey, are you okay?" Joshua asked concerned.

I shook my head. If I'm being honest, I felt like running out of that place, but I wasn't that cold, he got me food (even thought I never actually asked for it) so I wiped my tears away and started eating. It seems that he noticed that I didn't want to talk so we ate silently, not a single word came from any of our mouths while we were eating, I was starting to like the peaceful silent until…

"Are you always listening to music? You never take the headphones off"

I choked, I had to drink water to help myself. "How do you know that I never take'em off? Have you been spying me or something?"

"What? No! No no no! I just thought that cause, well, you have them on… and…"

"Well you have those pants on! Do you wear them always?"

"Good point…"

This kid was weird, what if I wasn't listening to music and just wanted to have them on? Huh? I made sure to thank him and leave before I had to give him my number, I didn't want any friends around, no, they make you love them, and when they're gone… It's all empty. I didn't need another friend, no…. I wanted my old friend back and couldn't.

"Look, thanks for everything, but I should be leaving already" I took the cat and waved.

"Bye bye Neku!" He said with this tone… I don't even know how to explain it, it sounded so… him.

I turned the music on and walked to the local park to feel the beauty, ew, of nature, for about ten minutes, then I left to Udagawa. In Udagawa a wall was painted by CAT, I loved his art, and for some reason, that wall always made me feel better. CAT was a really awesome person, his words inspired me a lot, he was a do-whatever-you-want-guy and I wanted to be just like him. I sat down in front of the wall, while listening to music, I enjoyed it, a lot, and I needed that.


	3. Chapter 3

It's been a week since I last time I saw Rhyme alive. I decided to go to 104, this, The Prince, was going. I knew the guy was popular and that lots of girls loved him, so maybe the stuffed cat's owner would be there too, I'm smart, right? Once I walked in I felt awkward, I mean, I'm a boy holding a stuffed animal surrounded by lots of girls, when you're a boy, you DON'T do that. I looked around for the girl but I didn't find her and when I was about to leave, The Prince came to me.

"Hey you! The kid with the headphones!"

"Me?" I turned around.

"Yes you" he said. All the girls were starting at us… fantastic.

"Where do you think you're going with that outfit?"

"Um… What's wrong with my clothes?"

"Oh no, nothing's wrong… but nothing's great either."

" 'Scuse me?"

"You should start wearing what's hot around, I mean, your clothes show how you're like, you get me?"

"… No? I wear what I want."

"Then you better start wearing what you should."

Okaaay? This guy's in nuts, there's no way I'm going to stop wearing my clothes just because a popular guy says so.

"If you want people to like you, then you have to look great, and you're clothes say a lot about you, so if you wear cool clothes, people will think you're cool, but if you don't…"

"Uhh… Thanks for the advice" I replied and turned around to walk out of there.

I wanted to tell him two things. The first one: I am already cool, and my clothes are cool too. And, the second one: I don't want people around me, I don't want people to like me, plus, if someone likes you, they should like you for how you are in the inside and not for how you look.

I walked into an alley that was right after 104, I liked those kinds of places and after being surrounded by half of the girls of the Shibuya City I sure wanted a moment alone with… the cat? But once I walked deeper, I started hearing some sobbing, that meant I wasn't alone at all. So I got curious to know who was there besides me and I kept walking. I found the girl I've been looking for in there, and I never thought that she might be hiding in alleys in the first place and maybe that was the reason why I didn't find her earlier, but, what was a girl doing alone in an alley? She could get raped, or killed, or both… wait… did I just get concerned about someone I don't even know?

I walked until I found myself in front of her, she wiped some few tears away and looked up.

"Mr. Mew!" she exclaimed and pulled the cat off my hand.

"Uhh, what?" I swear I just hear Mr. Mew… She couldn't be serious.

She stood there in silent, sitting down, hugging her stuffed cat like a little child, she stopped sobbing instantly.

"Why are you here? All the girls are in-"

"I wanted to be alone" she interrupted me.

Well, then if she wanted to be alone, leaving her alone would've been a nice idea, huh? So I turned around but when I was about to start walking, she said something.

"Wait…"

"Huh?" I looked at her.

"I want to ask you something"

"Me?"

She nodded "yeah, just two questions"

I crouched in front of her. "So?"

She thought for a moment, and with a very serious expression in her face, she said "what were you doing up there the other day?"

I sighed and decided to sit down "Well I- I… I wanted to … jump off… as well"

"Really?"

I nodded "Yeah, next question?"

"Okay…" she fell deep in thought again. I felt kind of strange. I was in an alley with a girl I didn't know and we were alone. And when she finally came down to Earth again, she asked "Why did you save me?"

I started at her for a moment. "I'm not sure… my instinct told me to, like when a baby cries when is hungry"

She didn't say a word.

"You know? I asked myself the same thing like 100 times too"

She just started at me. Now we were both starting at each other. Awkwaaaard.

"Want to know something? It's not worth it" I said to break the intense awkwardness in the air.

"Hmm?" she asked confused.

"Was it the first time you tried to kill yourself?"

She nodded once again.

"It's not worth it, look, that was going to be my forth attempt" I explained. Her eyes widened.

I got the feeling that she didn't believe me, so I took off the yellow wristband I always wear in my left arm and showed her my wrist "Look" I said.

She grabbed my hand in a delicate way with her soft hands and started at it between concerned and scared.

"Those cuts… they were very deep…"

"They were… I did that to my poor self about 4 weeks ago, and I almost died that time"

She kept on holding.

"But the same day I saved you, my best friend died in a car accident, and then I realized that killing myself was such a selfish idea, cause lots of people, like her, wished they were still alive."

She looked down and let go "A month ago huh?"

"Mhmm, the only reason why the scars are so big is that I tried to cut a vain and made the cuts veeeeery deep, it hurt as hell, but… after my friend's death, I got scared"

We stood there in silent, she was looking down and I was looking at her, wishing to know what she was thinking about.

"Thanks for keeping and returning Mr. Mew"

I couldn't help but laugh softly, how old was she again?

"It means a lot to me, I made it myself, and when I left it in that building when I ran away, I went back the next day but it wasn't there, I thought I wasn't able to find it again."

"You seriously made it? I thought you bought it or something!"

She gave me a small smile and put me the wristband again. "The name's Shiki Misaki, thanks for the advice and everything"

"Neku Sakuraba, and, you're welcome"

The only reason why I talked to this girl was because she understood me, she knew how hating your life was, I thought that I gave her a lot of information since she said nothing about her, but I was okay, she was somewhat interesting. I felt that I wanted to know a little bit more about her, but how do you do that without becoming friends? That was impossible, and I did not want friends, and maybe that was the last time I was going to see her ever again. After saying goodbye, I was going back to my normal life, so I basically stood there for a little bit longer. It was really hard for me to find someone that I could think is interesting, and she was. I was still curious about her in many ways. "Why did she want to die?" "Where did she learn to make stuffed animals?" and many more questions just popped in my head.

"Well, I shouldn't be here, I- I have to go" she mumbled.

"Okay, fine, just, take care of yourself."

"I will, bye, Neku, right?." She stood up and waved at me when I nodded, and she walked out of there wrapping "Mr. Mew". I sighed and stretched, then walked back home listening to music.

When I got there, mom was crying, I hugged her and asked her what has happened, I was very worried about her. She's the only one who cares about me and it gets me sad to see her like that.

"Mom? What's wrong?"

"Your dad left, we had a fight and he said he wasn't going to come again"

I felt a little happy after hearing that, but, apart from everything else, my mom still loved him a lot, I didn't get why, but she did.

"Why did you fight?"

"We were just talking about you, I told him I didn't want him to hurt you anymore, I told him that I didn't want to lose my only son and I've been about to 4 times already"

I wiped her tears away and smiled, trying to make her feel better. "It's okay mom, who needs him? We have each other"

The only thought of having my dad OUT of my life made me so, so happy. Finally. No more problems around me, no more pain, no more, anything. Mom shouldn't have been so upset. I actually liked the idea, but she wasn't going to stop crying, not even in the night. She spent the whole night crying, I could barely sleep, I was worried. I even moved from my bedroom to sleep with her so she wouldn't be that sad, and the next day, I woke up very early and got her breakfast. That made me feel like a good kid. I wanted to be a nice son, and I hadn't been one recently, I made her sad, confused, upset with herself and other things too, so I guess now that my dad was actually going to disappear, I could make my mother proud of me for the first time.


	4. Chapter 4

This particular morning I was laying down on my bed with my headphones on listening to music, songs like "Calling" and "Three Minutes Clapping" which were my favorites. I was feeling really down, I was yet wasn't alive like an inert being. No move came from my body, my eyes were glued to the ceiling, I had nothing to do.

Mom has been concerned about my behavior but I just wasn't in the mood to be all happy and jumping up and down. If you looked at me you might see a normal guy chilling and listening some music, but in the inside, I was broken. I wasn't of the type of guy that would show his feelings, so I looked pretty quiet.

Mom told me she was going to the Hachiko Statue to the Hachi Fest event, pretty much everybody was going so I got dressed, maybe I was going to try it out.

Walked street by street until I got to Hachiko, and if I don't say everybody in the whole city was there, I would be lying. Every time someone wanted to touch the statue, all of the other people would stare. I wanted to try it myself, if I touched the correct spot in the correct way, my wish will come true. What was my wish? To become happier.

I made my way to the statue and every present soul glanced at me, and with a slight frown of a thinking face I decided to hold out my hand. I touched Hachiko's nose in a very caring way, like if I was petting my own dog, then I hesitated for no reason. My prayers were priceless, I was wishing that I touched the right place and this was the perfect time to know. I turned around slowly and the first thing I saw was Beat. That only meant I touched the wrong spot and that I got cursed. He walked up to me, I could feel impending doom with every step he walked closer, but I was wrong.

"Hey Phones…" said Beat.

"Beat" I replied.

"I've got something I wantchu to keep"

"What exactly?"

"Go to my house whenchu get time"

What does that mean? The guy hated me to death and now he's giving me presents? That was confusing. I scratched the back of my head then looked up at the sky. A moment later, while trying to look for my mom with my sight I found Joshua, he was talking to someone, and it was Shiki… _Since when did those two hang out?_ Joshua saw me and waved with a grin. I waved back, he gestured with his hand asking me to walk over, and I did.

"Hello Neku! Look what I've found!" Joshua greeted pointing at the stuffed cat.

"He walked to me and asked if I was its owner" said Shiki.

"Hi and… Really?"

"Yeah, I saw you with it, didn't I? So when I saw her… "

"He got curious… Hey, you're brave!"

"Huh?" I asked confused at the girl.

"You touched Hachiko, we were starting at you" Joshua grinned.

"I wanted to try it out, perhaps my luck'll change."

"I would never risk myself to touch the statue, what if I get cursed?" Joshua said, stroking Shiki's brown hair, she looked away ashamed. "What are you going to do now? Mind going with us somewhere?" He asked.

"U-us?" Shiki jumped.

I frowned and put a hand over my chin in a thinking gesture, then said "I have nothing better to do… just don't expect me getting all excited about anything"

"Wh-what? Hey I never sai-"

"Relax… what was your name again?"

"See? You don't even know my name and you expect me t-"

"Her name's Shiki." I said.

"Neku!" she scowled.

I poked her scowl with my index finger pulling a funny face "So you still remember my name?" That made Joshua laugh, she just took my hand off and sighed.

"Fine, I'll go…"

Wait… I just touched a statue and now I'm on a play date? Funny thing I DID accept to go out with strangers. What is going on here?

"Where are we going anyway?" I asked.

"I don't know, let the girl pick a place"

"Huh? W-Why me?"

"Cause I'm a gentle man" Joshua grinned.

"Uhh… O-kay… Let's go watch a movie."

"What movie?" Joshua asked.

"Who cares? Let's just go" I said.

After 5 minutes of talking, we decided to go to the theater, there. We picked a movie and took seats in the middle of the room. I enjoyed the movie, actually. As much as I enjoyed hanging out with Rhyme. It's been a month already, I couldn't believe it, time passes so… Fast… I even got to feel a little sad that I couldn't live such an amazing moment with her. Anyway. I remembered Beat's invitation, which made me feel rather awkward, so I said good bye, but the kids asked for my phone number to keep it touch… What? Nah…. Yes, I had to give them the God Damn number, but after a while I didn't mind, they weren't going to call, were they?

Before arriving to Beat's place I took a walk by the wall CAT painted in Udagawa. I knocked at Beat's house and he opened the door. I walked in right to a small table placed in a corner fo the living room, with pictures over it. I smiled at a picture of Rhyme, she looked stunningly amazing. It was taken on Christmas.

"Ya like the pictures?" Beat asked.

I nodded and turned around.

"Then you're going to like what I've got for you"

"Hmm?"

He started walking to Rhyme's bedroom and I followed, the room was decorated as it always has been, it was intact, they sure wanted to keep Rhyme's sanctuary just as she left it. I looked at her bed and remembered when we used to do homework together, she was like a sister to me, I loved her a lot, in a brotherly way of course. Beat took something out of her closet and showed it to me.

"What's this?" I asked.

He just smiled at me and left the room closing the door. I sat down on Rhyme's bed holding what he gave me. It was a scrapbook. An orange and brown scrapbook, teddy-like soft to the contact. I opened it and saw various pictures of Rhyme and I. I felt a tear running down my cheek. I kept going and going, and the more pictures I saw, the more I cried.

She filled it just with pictures of both of us, she would put a word to describe the pictures of the page, such as "Treasures" "Gifts" "School" "Holidays"… and when I had like 6 or 7 pages left I realized she never filled the whole book. Those last pages were empty, she didn't get enough time to take more pictures and paste them. When I closed the book I hugged it and cried, then suddenly I was smiling because I got to live all of those moments with her. Then I promised myself that I wouldn't feel sad any more, cause my friendship with her was pure and fun. I didn't regret anything. All the things we did, everything we shared, it was all good, and I was very sure that Rhyme didn't want to see me sad, right? Wiping my tears away with one arm I stood up and walked out of the room, gave it one last sight, turned off the lights and walked out. I thanked Beat for the present and went back home.

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**Sorry if this chapter was short! ^-^' Hope you're liking the story so far! :D**


	5. Chapter 5

Mom has told me that I need to get a new friend to hang out with, but the idea frightened me, what if mom was trying to make me _**replace**_ Rhyme? No, I was not going to do that. But she explained me that if I got new friends, at least one, my pain was going to disappear all of a sudden. I didn't believe her, I was too stubborn and just the idea of replacing my best friend was thrilling.

One afternoon after taking a shower, while I was getting dressed, I got a message to my phone… I never expected anyone sending me a message, ever, and naturally, I got curious to know who it was from.

_Neku, I know we just hung out once, but in fact, no one likes doing so with me, so thank you very much. Even though you looked like you didn't enjoy a thing, it was very nice that you and Joshua decided to spend a little time with me, and I want to reward that. Mind meeting me at Hachiko today at 5?_

_-Shiki._

…

…

…

… What?

What am I supposed to do? Reply? Show up? What if I didn't want to go? "_no one likes doing so with me_" Ugh. If I didn't go I'd feel guilty.

_Well, I have nothing to do, -as usual-. What do you have in mind?_

_-Neku._

For the first time in my life, I experienced the urge of getting an answer, and it felt weird.

_Well… I told my friend Eri about what happened with Mr. Mew. She knew I had lost it and when she finally saw me with it, she asked why I had it. And she said she'd like to meet you… I hope you don't mind._

_-Shiki._

HUH? She wanted to introduce me to someone? I face palmed. That would possibly meant I'll have to spend a lot of time with two people once again.

_And after I see her, what?_

_-Neku._

I sat down cross legged on my bed with the phone in hands, waiting for the answer.

_Don't worry, she's going to leave, I promise._

_-Shiki._

Oh, that was nice; it was just a "Hello-Goodbye" thing. _Why not?_ I thought, I had found a nice excuse to get out of my house for a moment.

_Okay fine, I'll go, just don't get too excited. Is only because I have nothing better to do._

_-Neku._

I arrived at Hachiko at the said time. Shiki was there, holding her cat as usual, with another girl. I looked her from head to toe. She was pretty much showing half of her body, wearing a very short skirt, and a blouse that didn't cover her stomach. She had long, red hair and she was very pretty.

"Neku, you came!" Shiki waved.

"Hey" I said.

"Well, this is my friend Eri. Eri, this is Neku."

"Hello, nice to meet you, Neku" she gave me a hug, which I didn't return. It seemed that she didn't mind actually.

"Thank you so much for returning Mr. Mew, Shiki girl here was hysterical." She said, and she got closer to whisper something in my ear. "And thank you so much for saving her."

I shifted away instantly, she was invading my personal space! ... Well she just said thanks, but I wasn't okay with people getting that close to me.

"Sure."

"Say Neku, how old are you?" she asked.

"I'm 15"

"Just like us! Hey, it'll be fun if the three of us could hang out together, what do you guys say?"

"I… Don't know" I replied.

Shiki just smiled at her.

"Thanks for taking your time, but I need to leave now, mom asked me to help her with something." She was about to hug me, but instead waved and at me and hugged Shiki.

"Shiki, send me his phone number in a message!" then she left.

"Told you she was leaving, heh… this was the only moment of the day she got free and… a-are you listening?"

I nodded.

"So…"

"I didn't like her."

"What? But why? She's so nice and bubbly and pretty and popular and talented and …" she just started saying lots of qualities about her friend, like, she was defending her.

I raised an eyebrow with a small grin.

"Sorry… why?"

"Because, she's just like them"

"Like who?"

"Like those people who think that wearing nice clothes will make everyone else in the world like them. She's so… Superficial"

"She's not. Yeah, she wears nice clothes, and yeah, she's popular…"

Here we go again; I turned around to start walking away. But she quickly grabbed my arm and I turned back.

"Sorry… She's the only one who pays attention to me, look, you were about to leave…"

Man, now I felt guilty.

"Sorry, but I won't like her until she shows me herself that she's as nice as you say. I just don't like people like her."

"Do you like me?"

_Do I even like people?_ "You're in the opposite side of her." Did I just admit that I liked her?

She looked down. "I know, and I wished I was just like her"

"Why?" I replied quickly. I found that so not me after doing so.

"I… I- I'm so jealous of her." She hid her face in her hands. "She always gets what I can't. She's pretty, she's popular, she's talented, she's of the outgoing type, then there's me. Struggling to get friends and being ignored. I hate me."

Then I understood everything. She hated herself… Maybe that was the reason why she wanted to die so badly. Then an awkward silence came. I didn't know what to do, and she was crying.

"I think you're okay" I said, trying to sound as comforting as I could, but it was lame, I'm not good at these things.

"How would I be okay? Look at me! I'm not even pretty!" she cried.

I took her extremely-huge-for-her-face-glasses off and started at her.

"You're fine. Listen, if someone likes you, that person should like you for the inside and not for the outside… that's basically why I hate people like her, they think that the outside is more important." I wiped her tears away with my free hand and gave her a slight smile. I knew it was going to make her feel a little better, and I can be a really cold guy, but deep inside, I hate seeing people so sad, especially since I have been one of the saddest kids on the planet and I didn't want anyone to feel sadness. "No one will like you until you start liking yourself, so why don't you start now?"

"How would I like me if I don't even have a single nice quality…"

God, she was so blind! "You do have nice qualities. You sewed that cat yourself, meaning you do have a talent. You can be shy, yes, but your personality sure is adorable. Just don't become emo like me."

She giggled at the word "emo". "Okay fine, I sewed the cat. But that's not enough."

"Well, I don't know you that well to say anything else. But I'm sure of something."

"What?"

"I hate her more than what I dislike you, and coming from a person that -hates- people, you're lucky…"

She giggled again. "Thanks, I guess?" she smiled.

I shrugged, trying to seem casual. I felt really bad for this kid, she hated herself, I didn't get why, the Joshua kid was more annoying and I was pretty sure he loved himself. Oh Rhyme, she would know what to do to make her feel better. But I had to understand something, Rhyme wasn't here to help me anymore, I had to come up with an idea.

"I'm going to show you how lucky you are… I hate spending time with others, but since I just dislike you, I guess we can go eat something."

She raised an eyebrow smiling "What?" she laughed.

"Want to go or not? I can go to my house if you want."

She shook her head slowly. "I never thought you would invite me somewhere."

"Me either, but I'm hungry."

"Oh you!" she said softly punching my arm. "Okay, I'll go"

I rolled my eyes trying to hide the small smile I had on my face, it felt nice to help someone to be a little happier. Since we were at Hachiko I decided to take her to the fast food restaurant in the same area. We ordered the food and sat on one table in a corner. We ate silently, just how I liked it; we didn't have anything to talk about. We were eating the fries in the exact moment she started talking.

"So… why do you hate people like Eri so much?"

"Well… Do you know this guy, The Prince?"

"Of course I do! I love him! He's so F… Of Fabulous!"

Okaaay… "Well, the day I found you lonely on that alley he talked to me"

"YOU TALKED TO THE PRINCE!" everyone turned around to give us a weird look.

"Shhhh"

"Sorry…"

"Yes, and he told me that I needed to wear cool clothes to be cool, see? Superficial people make me sick"

"You shouldn't be saying that… look, some of us like wearing nice clothes, not to call people's attention, but because we like it"

"Your point?"

"I want to be a designer"

"Oh?" I said taking a french fry and sinking in on ketchup.

"Yeah, but I'm not as good as Eri making designs, I just sew them, she's the one that makes them"

"So you're like a team?"

"Sort of, I sewed the clothes she was wearing today"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah…"

"Wohoa! You're so talented, I thought she bought'em"

"No… and I'm not that talented, I can't make good designs"

"But I'm sure you sew better than her"

"Well, yeah but-"

"But nothing! See, you're so blind! Or… Maybe stubborn. You just don't realize"

"Realize what?"

"You do have a nice talent, that's how things work for you two. She makes some awesome designs, you bring them to life, and I'm sure you have fun times with her while doing so, it's a win-win situation"

"I never thought of it in that way… "

"I noticed"

"Huh?"

"Since you started crying earlier."

"Oh…"

We sank into another awkward silence, but it wasn't that awkward, I actually enjoyed it. The moon was starting to rise and I was looking outside. But she sure was feeling weird. I could tell.

"What about you?"

"Me?"

"Why did you want to die?"

I sighed. "My life has been very shitty. Dad hated me and hated my mom a lot. He treated us really bad, he hit me, he hit mom, he shouted horrible and very hurtful things at us and well, I got depressed. I mean, my own dad hated me… Rhyme was my only friend and the only one who could bring me up, cause everyone else thought I was actually weird and no one else talked to me…"

She was all ears, listening to every word, so I continued.

"And every time I tried to do something, mom was there to find me and keep me alive, and Rhyme would always give me some pretty good advices, but at the end of the day, I never heard, so she always avoided that particular topic and always made me feel better, until one day, she died. I should've listened to her advices and try to control myself…"

"It's okay… It's not your fault"

"It actually is…"

"No it's not"

"She ran behind me and a car hit her…"

"You couldn't do anything, is not your fault that the car didn't stop"

I looked at her, maybe she was right.

"You think?"

She nodded. Now our roles were reversed, she was the one making me feel better now.

"Thanks" I scratched the back of my neck.

"I should be heading home right now"

"Want me to walk you home?" I said when she was standing up.

"Y-you would?"

"Yeah… I hav-"

"Nothing better to do… Very funny Neku" She laughed. She was starting to get used to my very copyrighted line. "Okay fine, you can come, and hey… Thanks."

I smiled, she was actually pretty nice, and perhaps mom's idea of getting a new friend wasn't that bad.

**Ahoy! I made this chapter a little longer cause last one was actually pretty short. Today's your lucky day cause I'll upload another chapter TODAY! :D If you're reading, thanks for reading! It'll be pretty nice if you could comment cause, I'm a little bit noob at writing fics and I need opinions to know how good –or bad- I am. Again, thank you! Enjoy next chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

The next night I got a message from an unknown number.

_Hey! Thank you for spending a little bit of time with Shiki! I've got a surprise for you; meet me tomorrow night -8 pm to be specific- at Ramen Don! Don't say no!_

_-Eri._

It was Eri huh? What kind of surprise would she have for me? And why on earth 8 pm? That sounded more of a date than anything else. I got confused, very confused. I saved her number on my phone and checked my contact list:

Beat

Dad

Eri

Joshua

Mom

Rhyme

Shiki

Rhyme… What happened to Rhyme's number? Do they still have it? I dialed her number and called to see what happened, I got sent to the voice mail.

_**Hey, Rhyme here, I couldn't answer your call at the moment because I'm busy, so make sure to leave your message and I promise I'll listen and call you back! BEEP!**_

"How I wish you could call me back Rhymie…" I said and ended the call.

*the next day*

I knew I'd look like a good kid if I asked my mom permission to go to Ramen Don that "late". And she said yes, of course. She liked the idea of me getting new friends.

When I arrived, 10 minutes earlier, Eri was already there. I walked up to her and took a seat in her table. She had a gift box of a considered size over the table, and the paper was really charming actually.

"Hello!" She said smiling.

"Hey"

"This is for you" she pushed the gift box closer to me and smiled again. "Go ahead, open it!"

I looked at her raising an eyebrow, why would she give me a gift just for spending a little time with her friend? I took the box and carefully pulled the wrap off carefully and opened the box. She got me a really nice pair of sneakers. I actually liked them, just like the style I like to wear, and they looked expensive.

"Do you like them?" she asked.

"Umm… yeah, but why would you do that?"

"Yesterday Shiki came over my house, and she was actually different, she was, happier than usual, I asked her why and she told me you cheered her up!"

"Me? Really?"

"Yeah, I don't know what you did or how you did it, but it was amazing. I was feeling really sad because of what she was about to do. Thanks goodness you saved her! I forced her to explain me why she wanted to do that and I found out it was my entire fault…"

I just looked at her.

"I cried the whole night that day, I felt so guilty…"

"She's not your only friend, right?"

"No she's not, but she's my very best friend. She's the only one who loves me for who I am in the inside, you know?"

"She loves you that much that wished she was just like you" I whispered.

"Yeah… I don't get why"

"Neither do I"

"I'm not sure if taking that as an offense!" she laughed

"Nah, there's no need to. Thank you for the gift by the way"

"You're welcome! I ordered your food, I hope you're hungry!"

"Actually, I am, yes, thank you."

The waiter brought us our ramen, I got a little surprised that she picked my favorite, but it seemed it was hers too cause she started eating away!

Joshua came in the restaurant. I was starting to feel spied by him, he always pops up in the places I am! No, maybe I was overreacting, yes, that was it. He came with a man that looked a lot like him, maybe that was his dad. He took a seat on another table and looked at me. He gave me a slight grin and waved. I waved back and Eri noticed.

"Who's that?" she said glancing at him.

"Oh, that's Joshua"

"Joshua, Joshua, Joshua" she said poking her chin in thought. "The guy who invited you and Shiki to the movies?"

"Actually it was his idea to go out, yes, but Shiki picked the place" I explained.

"And what did you talk about that day?"

"Nothing, we focused on the movie, plus, we were completely strangers, there wasn't much to talk about"

"I see"

"Just like us right now"

She laughed. "Yeah… So Neku, I've got a question for you"

"Shoot"

"What were you doing up there the day Shiki almost jumped?"

I rolled my eyes and brushed my hair with my fingers taking the headphones off and sighing. "Would you believe it if I said I wanted to jump too?"

She gasped sitting straight "I-I had no idea"

"Yeah… But I saved her, which was good for both, don't you think?"

"…Yeah"

"I never tried suicide again, my best friend died and I got scared of death"

"Really?" she seemed surprised.

"Yep"

"I'm sorry…"

"It's okay… Can we change the subject?"

"Sure! Don't need to ask!"

"So, you want to be a designer too? Just like Shiki?"

"Oh, she told you?"

"Yeah, you're like a team, she explained me everything."

"Oh Shiki!" she laughed "Yeah, I design, she sews! I wouldn't be me without her"

"And she's too blind to understand"

"Yeah, I wish she wasn't"

"You love her a lot, don't you?" I asked.

"A lot, yes"

"You know, you seem better than what I thought"

"What?"

"When I first saw you I didn't like you"

"Why?"

I smiled; I wanted to let her understand that I wasn't going to tell her.

"Alright Neku, go on, ignore my question…"

That was exactly the same thing Rhyme said to me the day I was in the hospital, I felt the need to cry, but I shook my head, and with it, the feelings away.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, something came into my head, but I'm okay"

"If you say so"

We kept eating. Joshua was about to leave and he touched my shoulder when he walked by me and said "Nice to see you" with his… tone. His dad looked at me and smiled, I smiled back.

"Hey, I've seen that guy" said Eri.

"Who? Joshua?"

"No, the man standing next to him"

"It's probably his dad… Where did you see him?"

"In my house, my dad is friends with him, I knew he had a son but I never saw him before"

"Really? Then why didn't he wave at you?"

"He didn't see me, but yes, really!"

"This world is so, so little."

"Why do you say so?" she asked confused.

"Because Shiki's your friend, and that man is friends with your dad, and I knew Shiki days ago, and your dad's friend's son went out with me and Shiki, and now I'm here with you!"

At first, she struggled to understand the puzzle, but she managed to put it all together and said "Man, you're right…"

"I know, this is weird"

Her phone rang and she answered, 2 minutes later she hung up and said "Thanks for coming, I hope you liked your gift, but I need to go"

"Are you going to walk home by yourself?"

"Yes, dad called me, why?"

"Want me to keep you company?"

"Are you asking me to walk me home?"

"Yeah, I did the same with Shiki, why not?"

She smiled. "Well, yes, thank you, that's so cute from your part"

"Cute?" I snorted.

She rolled her eyes smiling "Yes, cute. Now pick up your gift, I already paid"

I did as I was told and we walked out, it was nearly 10 when we left. We walked without talking, in fact, there wasn't too much to talk. When we arrived to her house, my eyes widened. Her house was ridiculously huge and beautiful. I was starting at every detail of the well designed garden until we reached the door, she knocked and her mom opened the door.

"Well, I got home safe, thanks Neku, good night."

"Night" I said. Her mom smiled at me and Eri walked in. I started walking away and they closed the door.

When I got home, mom asked me if I had fun and she noticed the gift box, I told her the whole story about why she invited me in the first place cause she got a little surprised when I told her I only met this girl once before today and she got rather curious. I walked to my room, took a very long and relaxing shower, put on my pajamas, went to the kitchen to drink some water and went back to my room to try the sneakers I just got. I put them on and they fit perfectly. They were of the right size. "Wow" I thought. She knew which pair of shoes and what size to pick for me by meeting me just once! "The girl knows how to go shopping".

**Well! That was all for today! This chapter was a little boring, and I'm sure you're like: Hey! Where's the NekuxShiki action of this fic? But don't worry, it's coming veeeeery soon! (:**


	7. Chapter 7

I've been wearing my super-cool new pair of sneakers Eri got me, and she seems happy for the fact that I'm showing I liked them. Anyway, it's been two month since I got them, and lots of things have happened. Like what you may ask? Well, I've been going out with the kids more often. And there's something confusing about Shiki, something I still don't get, so I won't explain it right now, don't know how to.

Eri has been concerned about the fact Shiki may be going back to be depressed and we're all trying to make our best to change that. Oh! Almost forgot! I started talking to Beat and introduced him to my brand new "Friends". I wanted to get closer to him; sometimes we would chat about his sister. I found out that he hated me because Rhyme wanted to spend more time with me than with him since we became very best friend. Aww, big brother was jelly… What did I just say?

It's been four days exactly since last time I talked with Shiki, same as Eri, same as Joshua, same as Beat. She wouldn't answer anyone's calls or show up anywhere when any of us sent a message to meet somewhere. I was starting to like having friends, mom was right; it was nice. But to make things worse, it's been three months since Rhyme died, so obviously I was going back to school. Where everybody would come up to me –people I never talked to, but Rhyme did- Saying all them I'm-sorry-crap people say when someone dies. Back to the story, we were all getting a little worried about Shiki's behavior, especially me, don't ask why.

This random Friday afternoon I was with Eri in Ten-Four, she asked me to go with her because she wanted to find Shiki a nice present to make her feel better. I, as usual, didn't have anything important to do so I had no excuse to say no. After a while she finally picked something. I was starting to get bored and I didn't know a single thing about brands, so every time she asked me if something was okay for her, all I could do was shrug and say "I'm only here because you threatened me to death".

After leaving the store she left to her house with the present and I sat outside the building trying to think of something to do. _It's been four days since last time you talked to Shiki, Neku, think of something._ Well, I knew where she lived, I had walked her home by myself plenty of times, so I thought popping in her house would be a good idea, if she was there, she couldn't just ignore me and close the door or get me out of the house, Shiki wouldn't do that.

I ran to Shiki's place and knocked the door, and guess who opened the door.

"Shiki! You're alive!"

She looked away. "Neku what are you doing here?"

"I'm worried about you! You've been missing for about four days! Is something wrong?"

"Y-you've been, worried?"

"Yeah! Can I go in?"

She thought for a moment.

"If you don't let me in, I'll climb to your bedroom and get in through the window like a freaking ninja" I laughed.

"Okay, fine…" she let me in.

"So, what's wrong? Are you sad or something?"

"W-what? No!"

"So? Why haven't you answered your calls and messages?"

"Promise not to tell anyone?"

"Promise" I nodded.

"Okay" she took a deep breath. "I've been working on a surprise for Eri, I made some -good- designs and I'm trying to sew them to show her, but I've been very busy trying to do my best"

"Really?"

She nodded "Ya' really"

"Oh…"

"Why?" she tilted her head.

"Umm…. We've been thinking that you may be depressed or something"

"Depressed? Pfft no!" she waved a hand; I could notice she was lying.

"If you say so…"

"Hey! Now that you're here and my parents won't be home for the weekend"

Oh-oh, that sounds pretty much… Weird, if you ask me. "Yeah…?"

"I think you can help me! Come!" she grabbed my wrist and pulled me to her room, when she opened it, she had a mess of fabrics and papers and more other stuff a designer would have around. She sure was working hard.

"How can I help you? Cleaning?"

"What? No silly! I need a manikin! "

"Whaaaaa-?"

"Yeah!" she ran to her bed and picked a summer dress "Put this on!"

I looked at the girly dress and said "What's gotten into you? There's no fucking way I'm wearing that!"

"Aww come on Neku! What kind of friend are you?"

"One that won't wear that dress"

"Then if you're not going to help me you can leave" she said scowling.

"Ugh fine, fine. I'll wear it"

She kept starting me. "What are you waiting for? Take the shirt off!"

"Whaaaaaat? No, no, no. there's no way I'm going to strip in front of you!"

"Is just your shirt!"

"What if I ask you to take your shirt off in front of me?"

"It's different cause I am a girl and I have… other things. But you're a boy"

"Ugh, okay, fine!"

I thought for two seconds before taking the shirt off and she was starting at me, what made me feel awkward. My face became warmer; I could feel blood in my cheeks… OH MY GOD WAS I BLUSHING? I looked away ashamed.

"Umm… The dress?" I asked.

"Oh! Sorry I-I blanked out…"

Awkward silence. She gave me the dress and I put it on, which made her burst out laughing.

"Hey, it's not funny!" I growled.

"I-I'm AHAHAHAHA! So so so-sorry AHAHAHAHA you look AHAHAHA so, F-F-FUNNY!"

That made me blush a little more. This was so embarrassing.

"Hey, if you keep laughing I'm leaving"

She made silence "Sorry…" she grabbed a needle and came up to me.

"The hell are you doing?" I stepped back until I couldn't walk more thanks to a wall.

"Well, I need to fix some parts, that's the reason why I needed a manikin!"

"No, no, no and …. No young lady."

"Aww come on! Is just a needle! You've done worst things to yourself!"

She was right. "Yeah but no"

"Aww shut up and come here!" she grabbed the dress and I shifted. "OW!"

"Oopsy! Don't move Neku!"

"You have a needle in your hand, how do you expect me to be-"

"Neku, you're look like a little girl!"

I squirmed. "Shiki!"

"If you remain calm, I may finish faster and you'd be able to take it off"

That was a nice deal. "Okay… fine you win this time"

I stood there without moving a muscle and she fixed whatever she was fixing. It was embarrassing, she was standing this close of me and I was wearing a dress. Good thing it was just us, because I'd die of embarrassment if someone else was present.

After what seemed a year she finally said "Okay, you can take it off" and I did as I was told. Then she made me put a really tight shirt on. I don't get why girls wear such tight clothes! And I looked really… different wearing that. But that wasn't the worst part. I couldn't take it off and I needed help. She tried to help me and when we finally got it, we tripped with one of the fabrics she had on the floor and ended laying over her bed. And I was over her, shirtless.

The air became really tense. We were starting at each other's eyes and wow, her brownish-green eyes were amazingly beautiful, our noses were almost rubbing, I could feel her warm breath over my skin, I moved the hair from her face to see her better and unconsciously, I was stroking her very short hair; it was a very nice sensation, for what seemed 6 hours, but only was 1 minute. And then we realized what was happening and we both blushed at such uncomfortable situation. I quickly sat up and looked away. "I-I'm sorry" she said looking away too.

"Don't worry… let's just forget the last five minutes of our lives"

"Yes, please."

We didn't talk after that; we remained there, looking away in pure silence. None of us was brave enough to talk and considering how awkward were the last 5 minutes; none of us was going to move either. But I was the boy here; I had to do something to break the uncomfortable silence, so I stood up and put my shirt on again and said "I'm thirsty".

"Do you want a drink? I have soda, juice, water-"

"Water please"

She nodded and walked to the kitchen, I followed. Her house was very adorable: lots of pictures around the walls and tables, nice curtains, lovely couches, and a very charming decoration like flowers and stuffs. She served me a cup of water and I drank it, and then went back to her room. I helped her to clean the mess so no more "accidents" would happen again. When we finished, she asked me if I was hungry and we went back to the kitchen once again and she prepared me food. Pasta, to be specific. And man, she was a very good cooker!

"Say Shiki, where did you learn to cook like this? I never thought you were that good at dishes!" I exclaimed after swallowing.

"Mom taught me how to cook… and aw, that was sweet"

Pasta has now become my very favorite dish! "It is awesome; you so should cook this next time"

"Next time?" she tilted her head, I could notice some blush in her face.

"Sure! I'll be coming every day to eat!" I joked.

She laughed. "I'll be waiting for you tomorrow then!" she joked back.

"By the way, where are your parents?"

"Oh, business trip"

"I see, so you decided to stay to finish Eri's surprise, right?"

"Sort of" she looked insecure.

"What?" I glanced at her "Hey… what's wrong?" I said, reaching her hand with mine, then pulled it back awkwardly after realizing what I've done.

She didn't answer.

"Shiki…"

"I've been trying to improve my skills, you know I want to be as good as Eri, that's why I've been trying to make good clothes. I designed lots of pieces, then took the best of them and sewed them, that's why I asked for your help, since you were here…"

"I think they were good"

"They weren't like Eri's"

"Hey, you need to create your own style, not copy Eri's. I think your designs were nice"

"I had to spend lots of hours in them, you know, that's why I turned off my phone and didn't go anywhere, I just focused on that"

"And you worked hard, and got nice results. Listen, don't push yourself, just let it be. If you push yourself too much the designs will be awful, but, if you do them how you like them, enjoy it while drawing and have a good time sewing, then it'll be a nice design. Look! You can't say you didn't laugh after seeing me in a dress!"

She laughed. "Yeah, you're right. Just work hard, don't push. Got it"

That night when I was lying on my bed, I couldn't sleep. I didn't get why, all I had in my head was the moment when I fell over her and we started at each other's eyes. What does that mean? Do I /like/ her? It was confusing. I never /liked/ anyone, I didn't know how it felt. I couldn't understand that kind of emotions and here I was fighting not to experience them myself. In fact, today has been pretty different. I blushed. I never did that, and she blushed as well. But let's review, I became more friendly and I got more closer to Shiki than any of the others for the fact that she understood me and I identified myself with her. I admit I've been spending a lot of time with her recently and it didn't bother me to go somewhere with her. After a while, and I really mean a while, cause it was 3:30 am in the morning, I realized I have been defeated by my own emotions. I couldn't continue being that coward. I had to accept the reality… I was growing feelings towards Shiki.


	8. Chapter 8

This whole thing of Shiki has gotten me completely nervous. For some reason I get really, really nervous when Shiki and I are around someone, and I still can't get used to that. But when we're alone, it's totally different. I act cool and normal, that's why is so confusing.

_Meet us at the park at 4:45 pm under "our" tree. PICNIC TIME!_

_-Eri and Shiki._

Eri and Shiki, huh? I asked my mom if she could help me with any food and she prepared me ham and cheese sandwiches. Shiki was the first one arriving, I was the second.

"Hey" I said sitting down next to her.

"Hello Neku, how are you?" she smiled.

"I'm good. I brought sandwiches!"

She giggled. "did you make them yourself?"

"Maaaaaaaaybe" I looked away.

"Are you sure?"

"Hey what a nice day for a picnic, man!"

"Neku!" she laughed.

"Yes, Shiki?"

"Never mind" she said, taking her green sweater off. I glanced at her arms and grabbed her left wrist.

"Shiki, were you cutting yourself?"

She quickly pulled her arm back.

"Hey!" we turned around and saw Eri smiling at us.

"Eri!" Shiki smiled.

"Hola…" I said.

"How are you guys?" she said sitting down

"We're great, right Neku?"

I looked at her "Yeah… right…" I gave her a worried look, but Eri didn't seem to notice.

Eri brought hot dogs and fries, then Beat, and finally, Joshua, who brought a cake. The girls went crazy with the cake because it was well decorated; guess Joshua prepared it just for this special occasion. This was our first picnic actually. When Joshua sat down and put the cake in a safe place –because Beat couldn't stop starting at it- the girls set the plates and everyone showed what they brought. Me and my sandwiches, Shiki and her lemonade, Eri and her hot dogs with fries, Beat and his ramen with curry, and Joshua with some salad and the cake.

Everyone served themselves and started eating away. Beat would make jokes trying to make us either laugh or choke, and the girls will whisper something to each other and then giggle. And Joshua would glance at me with a smirk, I didn't get why until a very while after eating, when Joshua asked Eri to go for a walk.

Eri nodded and stood up and they walked away. I raised an eyebrow and the three of us started at them, Beat with a slight grin.

"Ho ho ho now that's new" I said laughing, but actually I couldn't believe it.

"They a' couple now?" Beat asked.

Beat and I turned to face Shiki who obviously knew something.

"Hey! Don't look at me! I-"

I raised an eyebrow again.

"I swear I have no clue if they're together or not…"

"Yeah, right." I said looking at where Joshua and Eri went, but they were nowhere to be seen.

"Are they takin' lotta time or?" Beat asked.

"A lot of time, Beat, and I don't know" I corrected Beat.

I served myself another piece of cake and started munching away while Shiki and Beat talked about dreams and stuff like that.

I lay down on the floor and turned the music on. The air was fresh, my stomach was full and I was listening to music with my eyes closed. Man I need to do this more often! Then I felt someone pocking me and I opened my eyes.

"You're awake?" Shiki asked.

"Yeah, why? Where's Beat?"

"Oh, he left, his mom called him, we thought you were asleep."

"No… I wasn't. but I didn't notice when Beat left… Where are Joshua and Eri?"

She shrugged "I have no clue, they must be walking around, why?"

"No reason, but hey, it caught me by surprised, I didn't know they were in something"

"They are not together" she laughed.

"Yeah, and I'm your twin brother"

"What?"

I sat up. "Let's go look for them and-"

"Spy them? Neku, that's not right…"

"So? Come on, it'll be fun! I want to know what's going on"

"But Neku!"

"No buts, if you're not coming then I'm going by myself"

She sighed. "Why do you want to know so badly?"

"Just curious" I stood up and held out my hand to help her up.

"I'm going to regret this…"

We walked around and around and around until we finally found them. They were sitting down next to the other talking, nothing very interesting if you ask me.

"Hmmm… What are they talking about?"

"I don't know… Neku, we shouldn't be here"

"Don't worry"

"They can see us if they turn around"

"So what? Is not that they're going to kill us or something"

"But…"

"Say Shiki, since when does Eri likes Joshua?"

"H-huh? I-I don't know! Heh! I swear."

"You're a bad liar… Now tell me"

"Ugh… Like 4 weeks ago or something, but it seems that Joshua likes her too"

"Hmm" I crossed my arms.

"Eri planned the whole picnic thing just to hang out with Joshua, but she invited all of us so we wouldn't jump to conclusions"

"Which was a big mistake cause we did that"

"Yeah… why are you so curious? Do you like Eri?"

"What? No" I turned to face her. What? Me? Liking Eri? Hell no.

"Ah, I was starting to think that you were jealous"

"Nah, I don't like her that much, I told you the day you introduced her to me, didn't I?"

"Yeah…"

We started walking back to our meeting place to sit down.

"So….. Do you like someone, Neku?"

"Me? Maybe, maybe not… Why do you want to know?" Oh … Shit. I looked away cause I felt some blush coming back. Stupid god damn blush. I was barely accepting I was starting to like her and now she's asking me? No, I can't tell her just yet. No.

"Aww come on! I know you like someone! Everybody likes someone!" she insisted.

"Do you like someone?" I asked.

"I asked you first" she grinner.

"Hmph, if you only knew…"

"It is Eri! I knew it!"

"Is not her"

"Then who it is?"

"Why do you want to know? Are you jealous or something?" I said looking at her.

"Me? Pfft, no. I'm just curious" She looked away.

I sighed and grabbed her arm again. I rubbed my index finger by the scars on her arm and she just kept looking away. I didn't ask her why she did it; I knew she wasn't going to answer me anyway. I just took off my yellow wristband and put it on her wrist to hide the scars. She glanced at me and gave me a soft smile.

"Don't do it again, please" I asked.

She thought for some seconds and then answered at the same time some tears started falling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it, I thought it'll make me feel better"

I didn't like to see her crying and I pulled her into a hug. She didn't mind. I felt the urge to hug her in a very strong and lovely way but I fought my urges and just comforted her by patting her back. Then Eri and Joshua came back.

"Shiki! Are you alright?" I stopped hugging so Eri could hug her, but this time, she gave her best friend the hug I wanted to give Shiki. That was the worst feeling on Earth: having to look someone you care about crying.

* * *

"Neku! Eri's on phone!" mom shouted.

"Coming!" I ran and attended the call "Hello?"

"Hey Neku, it's me" Eri answered.

"You, how's Shiki?"

"She's okay now"

"Thanks goodness"

"I'm calling you cause I need your help with something"

I frowned a bit "Something?"

"Okay, pay attention…"

"I'm all ears"

…

…

…

Eri had a nice plan, now it was my turn to play my part. I dialed Shiki's phone number and her mom attended. Then she called Shiki and she talked.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hey Shiki" I said.

"N-Neku!"

I smiled "Hey, are you busy?"

"No.. Y-you-"

"Hmm?"

"You never call me… And you just did." She hesitated.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Huh? No! Of course not!"

"Then perfect, because, I am calling to invite you to the beach this Saturday… Just us… No one else… Want to go?"

"A-are you serious?"

"Yeah! Of course I'm serious! You don't need to wear any swimsuit if you don't want, we aren't going to swim, just to chill a little beat and talk… So what do you say?"

"… Are you seriously inviting me to the beach?"

"Why would I lie?"

"Umm… Why just the two of us?"

Shit. "If you want, we can invite the whole party and make it less private. I just want to spend a little of time with you"

"… Why?"

"Why not?"

She giggled "I'll think about it, okay?"

"Perfect… I'll talk to you later, mom needs help with something, bye"

"Bye Neku"

Actually, mom didn't need any help, oops! I dialed Eri's number.

"Hello?"

"Eri, she said she'll think about it"

"Okay, I'm very sure she's going to tell me, in that case, I'll make sure she accepts"

"Wonderful"

"Thanks again, Neku!"

"You're welcome!" I said and hung up.

**Hmmm, what are Neku and Eri planning? Want to know? Sorry, you'll need to wait until the next chapter :P By the way, I'm going to take finals soon, so don't expect me to be uploading more chapters that recently :/ I need to get ready! It'll be POSSIBLE that tomorrow I'll upload another chapter, but after that one, don't expect any other in a good while :P THANKS FOR READING! COMMENT AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! BAAAAIII! **


	9. Chapter 9

Later on that week, Shiki sent me a message to tell me she was going. Step A of the plan… Completed.

Saturday morning Shiki and I met at the Bus Terminal. She had a back pack just like me. When she was buying the tickets I sent Eri a message.

_Shiki and I are about to leave – Don' answer this message._

_-Neku._

We got to the beach around 11:00 am. Set our towels on the floor under a huge umbrella and grabbed something to eat while other people were arriving. Shiki was wearing short jeans and a huge shirt that let one shoulder uncovered. I, in the other hand, was wearing a black shirt and dark short jeans, not that short, over by knees to be exact. And Mr. Mew was between us. I have to admit she had pretty nice legs and… Shelookedgoodinshorts. There, I said it.

I took my shirt off, we were in a beach after all, I can tell she blushed. The first time I did this, I was rather ashamed, but come on! The shirt was black and we were in a very hot beach!

Then I started thinking… we were alone in a beach… well, not literally cause there were a lot of people around, but they all were strangers so, yeah… and this could be the only time I was going to have her all for myself without friends in the area, so why not enjoy it?

"There's a nice place where we can get great drinks on the other side of the beach… want to go?" I asked standing up and holding out my hand.

"Sure" she nodded, holding my hand and letting me help her to stand up.

"Want to jump on my back?" I offered.

"You'll carry me?"

"Sure! It'll be fun"

She smiled "alright" and jumped over. "This isn't like you at all!"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She giggled.

She wrapped my neck not too tight and I held her legs… so soft… and started running with her by the water, splashing and spinning. It was fun.

I got both of us two piña coladas and we headed back. I put my arm over her shoulders and got her closer with a friendly smile –yeah, "friendly"- she smiled back and took a zip of her drink.

When we got back, I lay down over my own towel and kept starting at her, she was sitting down and the wind moved her hair, she didn't notice that I was looking at her, I think.

After a few minutes she lay down next to me too.

"Today has been very relaxing, Neku, thank you"

"Nah, thanks to you for accepting" I said closing my eyes. _Go Neku, you can do this, you cut your wrist with a knife, don't be a coward, be a man! You can do it! Grow a pair of balls and do it! _And with that, heart beating almost opening a hole on my chest, I interleaved our fingers together. She gasped at the contact and I smiled to myself. I felt her eyes over me so I opened my eyes and turned my head… and yup, there she was, starting at me, and blushing.

"Neku…"

"Shhhh" I said, closing my eyes again. And as soon as I closed them, I felt her resting her head over my chest, letting go my hand and hugging Mr. Mew.

I opened my eyes, my heart was racing again, and I got scared cause maybe she heard it, but I wrapped her with my arm and suddenly, I didn't care.

We fell asleep and I woke up at 4:00 pm. When I looked at her, she was cuddling with me, I stroked her hair and woke her up.

"Shiki… we need to go"

She rubbed her eyes "Already?"

"Mhmm"

"Why?" she said, putting her head over my chest again.

"Because I don't want to go home very late, and I'm walking you to yours"

She sat up and said "fine" yawning.

We put everything back o the back packs and went to the Bus Station. Step B… Completed.

Now it was my turn to send another message to Eri informing her we were leaving the beach. Shiki asked me who I was sending a message to, and I lied saying it was for my mom.

When we were sitting in the bus, Shiki asked something.

"Neku, why did you gold my hand earlier?" she said, looking down at her hand.

"Well… I-"

"Did you mean it?" she interrupted me.

"Hmm?"

"When you held my hand… I hugged you and… And you hugged me back"

I took my headphones off and said "Have you ever wondered what kind of songs I'm always listening to?"

She looked at me confused cause I didn't answer her question- she looked so adorable with that puppy-like tilt of her head.

"Here… _Put my headphones on_"I held them out until she grabbed them and put them on. I put the volume on a high level, quickly kissed her cheek and said "I like you"

"What?" she said, smiling at me and taking them off.

"Ain't repeatin'" I said with a grin.

"Aww Neku! Please!" she insisted.

I just put the headphones back to my ears and kept smiling to myself. Then she said something and I didn0t hear.

"What?" I asked. Lowering the headphones down to my neck.

"Sorry, ain't repeatin'" she said and looked away through her window smiling.

I just laughed and threw my arm around her shoulders.

"Know what, Neku? You changed a lot in the past few months"

"I know… I guess, when I touched Hachiko, I touched the right part and my dream came true"

"Oh? What was your dream?" She looked at me, cuddling and resting her head over my chest.

"To become happier, and guess what? I am"

"I wish I could" she said looking down.

"You will, Shiki, you will… I promise"

We spent the whole rode back just talking about random stuff and when we arrived in the city, we took our back packs and I walked her home. I had to find an excuse to walk in with her and the only thing I came up with was:

"Can I go in and have a cup of water?"

"Yeah, why not?" She said, taking her keys out to open the door. "Oh, by the way Nek-" she opened the front door.

"SURPRISE!" Everybody shouted. She quickly turned her head with widened eyes and Eri came out from the crowd of people.

Eri made me invite Shiki to the beach so she could plan a secret party with all of the popular kids of their school so she'll feel important and I liked the idea, so I helped.

"What's going on?" Shiki asked while receiving a hug from Eri.

"They all came to your surprise party… They loved the idea of throwing a party for you and each one of them helped a lot with everything" Eri explained. "Thanks Neku, you played the most important part"

"You're very welcome!" I chuckled.

"Y-you knew about this?" Shiki asked me.

"Of course I did!"

She smiled and hugged me "Thank you"

"Um, yeah, I understand that you lovebirds may want to be hugging but you already spent the whole day in the beach and we have a party to throw back here" Eri said.

"Eri!" Shiki and I shouted in reaction and blushed. Eri just winked at me and grabbed Shiki's arm and pulled her into the bunch of people.

I didn't know any of those kids so I looked for Joshua and Beat and sat with them on a couch.

"Oh, you missed a lot, Neku" Joshua said fixing his hair.

"These kids r' cool! They started throwing punch all over!" Beat laughed.

"Eri went crazy, her face was priceless" Joshua giggled.

"Really?" I asked.

"Mhmm, they wanted to throw punch over Josh!" snorted Beat.

"Oh yes, but they couldn't touch this, you know?"

I laughed.

"Then we started… Well… They started cleaning while Eri and I prepared more punch"

"Punch huh?" Beat laughed out loud.

"Yes punch, Beat" Joshua glared at him.

I raised an eyebrow.

"One of the kids took this and sent it away" Beat said showing me a picture of Joshua making out with Eri. Joshua sighed and I gave him a weird look.

"HAH! I KNEW YOU TWO WERE TOGETHER! I shouted.

"Aww shut up Neku, you perfectly know you're dying to kiss Shiki" Joshua teased.

How did HE know that?

"He be right, Phones! You nedda look the way you stare at her man!" Beat said.

I couldn't do anything but blush.

"Are you blushing Neku? Hah, I knew it" Joshua laughed.

"Hah! Your face's priceless, Phones!"

"Hey-ye-yey! Don't shout! I'm right next to you, Beat!" I glanced at Beat.

"Oh Romeo, look who's coming!" Joshua grinned.

"Gotta bounce Josh!" Beat said and they quickly stood up and walked away.

Shiki walked up to me and held her hand out. "Mind going upstairs with me? There are lots of people here" She said pointing at Joshua and Beat who quickly looked away laughing.

"Y-yeah" I said taking her hand letting her walk me upstairs. We went to her room and closed the door.

"Hey, I didn't have enough time to thank you earlier" She smiled.

"There's no need to thank me! It was all Eri's idea"

"I know… But still, I had a nice time with you today, but…"

"Hmm?"

"I've been confused" she said, taking her glasses off and placing them over her bed.

"Confused?"

"Neku… You held my hand, you kissed my cheek and hugged me… But those can be actions of very best friends, I mean, you did all of that with Rhyme, didn't you?"

"Positive"

"So, umm… I-I don't know if you do… But at least… I like you…" She said blushing and looking down.

"You like me?" I asked.

She nodded "Yeah… And that's why I liked today so much"

"Shiki" I said holding her hands. "That's really cute of you… Remember when I asked you to put my headphones on?"

She looked up again "Yes?"

"Want to know what I said when you didn't hear?... I said "I like you" "

She gasped. "Really?"

"Yup! Sorry I wasn't brave enough to repeat it once ag-"

She interrupted me leaning over me and locking out lips in a kiss. I had my eyes widened but then I closed them slowly and placed my hands around her waist while she wrapped my neck. To be honest, that was my very first kiss and it was amazing, it was a very unexperienced yet sweet kiss and I didn't want to pull away, but we ran out of air so we had to, but we stood in the same position with our foreheads together.

"So, are we like, together, now?" she asked smiling.

"Do you want to?"

She peeked my lips "I do"

Someone opened the door and we quickly pulled back.

"Oops! Am I interrupting something?" Eri asked. Joshua behind her.

"Jesus Christ, Eri! You could've knocked first!" I said.

"Told ya!" Joshua laughed.

"I'm sorry… Shiki, we need you downstairs, so when you're not but-WOHOA!"

"Leave them alone!" Joshua grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

Shiki grabbed my hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek. "Let's go then?"

We walked downstairs, but when we were there, Shiki let go my hand and ran up to Eri, it was dinner time and Shiki's mom wanted her to be present. I walked to Shiki and hugged her from behind, she wrapped her arms over mine and everybody started at us. I didn't give it much importance, 99% of them were strangers for me.

After dinner, when everyone left, Shiki and I sat down on the couch. She was tired and she lay down over my lap. Joshua, Eri and Beat came too. I guess Beat was feeling a little lonely, But knowing Beat, he didn't mind. Joshua and Eri sat together and Beat sat down on another one.

"So watcha doing tomorrow, kids?" Beat asked.

"I think I actually have a nice idea" Eri said.

* * *

**Sorry for lasting SOOO long to upload another chapter! But I was studying for finals and I finished! :D So I decided it was about time to upload another chapter! Did you like Neku and Eri's plan? What has been your favorite part of the story so far? Tell me! :) What is Eri's next idea? Would they actually get a chance to use it? Find out next chapter! :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRY for taking SO SO SO SO SO LONG to update. I'm currently suffering from writer's block and I kind of knew what I wanted but ksjadhkjsadhjkas it was hard to put the right words there :C I had a hard time writing this chapter, and yeah, I know how mean I am, I know, don't remind me ;-; This chapter is shitty.**

* * *

*Next day*

I woke up with my mom shaking me.

"Neku, Neku! Wake up!"

"Ugh.. Mom… I don't want to go to school yet…" I said turning around.

"Today is Sunday, wake up!"

"But it's Sundayyyyy…"

"Neku! I'm being serious!"

"What?" I said sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

"We need to go to the hospital, go and get a quick shower and let's get moving"

"Wait, what? Who are we going to visit? What happened?" I asked confused.

"Why don't you take a shower and I tell you then?"

I gave her a confused look. "Alright, I gues…"

I got into the bathroom, got showered and dressed. I got ready in about 10 minutes. Then I walked up to mom after finishing putting my shoes on.

"So… What's going on?" I asked

"Okay… Listen…"

"Mom? Don't freak me out, what's going on?"

She didn't give me an answer.

"Mom!"

She took a deep breath I was starting to get nervous "Shiki's mom called, looks like Shiki tripped in the stairs an-"

"What?" I almost shouted. Almost.

She just hugged me. "Is Shiki okay?" I asked.

"She hasn't woken up yet… It happened about 30 minutes ago"

She pulled back and grabbed her car's keys; I followed her taking a seat inside not knowing what to think. We finally headed to the hospital, once there, I just followed her, I knew she had an idea about where they were. When she stopped, I noticed Eri there, and the only thing I did was sit down without bothering to talk to anyone. I knew this was something to worry about. If she fell, she could've hit her head with the floor or the walls, I knew that if she hit her head too hard she could even get her brain damaged. That would cause her to live under supervision her whole life. But my biggest fear was the she may not remember me. What if she loses her memory? Just thinking about that was terrifying.

Eri sat next to me. "She's going to be okay" she said. I kept looking at the floor, I was too busy getting worried about my girlfriend. She started stroking my hair. Beat arived with Joshua and Joshua's dad. Eri walked to Joshua and hugged him tight. She was just as worried as I was.

Everyone around me was talking, walking, going out of the waiting room, but me. I was just sitting down there hiding my face in my hands. I was scared.

"She's going to be alrigt, Neku" Joshua said patting my back.

"You're saying the same thing everyone else told me"

Joshua sighed and crouched in front of me. "Look at me" I did. It was weird, he looked like he was going to propose to me, but, somehow, I knew he wasn't going to. "She's fine, trust me"

"What if she isn't fine?" I frowned.

"Neku… Positive thinking helps, my dear"

"That's mental. Positive or negative thinking never change results, it just puts your hopes up and at the end you get disappointed."

"Why do you say that?"

"Never brough Rhyme back…"

"Hey, I just wanted to help you feel better"

"You ain't helping"

"Neku"

"Doctor!" Shiki's mom exclaimed, basically running to him.

Everyone turned around to look at them and the elders joined. It seemed like hours before all of them walked back. Mom sat next to me and I begged her with my eyes to tell me.

"Neku… There's a lot of chance that she has forgotten pretty much everything"

"No… Mom, tell me you're joking"

She shook her head and hugged me. "Why would I joke about something like that, I know she's your best friend but-"

"She's not just my best friend…"

She kinda got the idea of what I meant by that. I broke the hug appart and saw her confuseed face.

"You mean? Since when?" She asked. "You didn't tell me"

"How long would it take for her to get her memory back to normal?" I asked looking away.

"I'm not sure" she answered.

I stood up and walked out of there.

"Where are you going?"

I did not answer, but I was hungry and I had some money in my wallet, so I went to the cafeteria to get me some breakfast. After doing the line to order and sat down alone, after eaing half of my ham and cheese sandwich, Eri and Joshua walked in.

"So here you are!" Eri said taking a seat in the other side of my table. "I need to talk with you"

I glanced at Joshua who walked out of the cafeteria and sat somewhere, he started at us but wasn't listening.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Umm…You know Shiki's my best friend and I only wan the best for her" she started.

I raised an eyebrow, taking another bite of my sandwich.

"I don't know if you're going to like this idea but… I don't think Shiki should know that… You guys are together…"

I blinked. "What?"

"D-don't get me wrong! I mean-" she sighed "You know how you met her, right? She's going to ask you a lot of things including that! Do you really want her to think about all those 'bad' things she's done? It'll be easier if you tell her you're just her friend and you know each other since forever!"

"You want me to lie?"

"You want to hurt her?"

"There's no way in hell I'm doing this. No" I frowned.

"There might be no way in hell, but you are not in hell, so you're doing this. Neku, you have to"

"No! You're asking me to lie, and not just to lie, but-"

"You have no choice, is either lie or get her sad or worried or concerned or disappointed about all the things she has done to herself."

"You're talking nonsense! What about the marks on her wrist, huh? She'll figure out"

"I ….. Don't know, okay? We'll tell her it was an accident from when she was younger or something"

"Eri, I DON'T want to do this" I said, placing my half-eaten sandwich on the plate.

"Neither do I, but do you think I only do what I want? I want to do what is better for her"

"What if she remembers? She's going to find out we've been lying"

"Then we'll tell her we didn't want her to get worried, that's all"

"You know what? I'm not going to talk about this any more. I just don't want to do this. End of story" I said standing up about to walk away.

"You don't want because of Shiki… Or you?" she said, not looking at me. I scowled and walked out.

"Neku!" Joshua called, running to me.

"Leave me alone… I'm going home" I said, not waiting for his response and walked away.

"Neku! For goodness sake! You're acting like such a 3-year-old kid! One step more and I'm fucking going to take your headphones off and smack them with a fucking wall"

Wow… Joshua never swore… He was being serious.

"Eri told me she would hate herself after asking you that, she had a hard time thinking about it" Joshua explained walking to where I was standing. "All she wants is that Shiki get a nice recovery without getting worried about anthing. And look at you! You don't even know if she had forgotten you and you're walking away already? Get your butt upstairs right now!"

"Joshua-"

"I. SAID. NOW"

I didn't question him, I just turned around and walked to an elevator. He, in the other hand, walked inside the cafeteria to meet Eri.

* * *

**I'm sorry...**


End file.
